[table of contents]

Chapter Ten

DATING THE FESTIVALS

Many people want to know when the feasts occur on today’s calendar. One author, who has studied these things much longer than I, states that even the present Hebrew nation does not know the correct dates. He writes:

“The Jews are well aware of their error. They knew about it before we did. They are in fact waiting for a new Sanhedrin to correct their calendar; to bring the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles back to their divinely appointed positions...” David Looghran-Stewarton Bible School – 1 Ailsa Rd., Irvine, Scotland

Adventists, who believe in the gift of prophecy given to this church, and the dating of 1844 by William Miller and his associates, have an interesting method for determining the dates of God’s appointed times.

“Anciently, the new year did not commence in midwinter, as now, but at the first new moon after the vernal equinox.” SOP Vo. 4, p. 497; GC, 1888 ed, p. 681

To apply modern dates to these occasions is quite simple. Everyone knows the time of the vernal equinox, March 21, when the day and night are the same length once each spring. Count fourteen days from the first new moon after the vernal equinox and you have the date for Passover. Add one day (day fifteen) and you have the first day for Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasts seven days. Ellen White states:

“On the fourteenth day of the month, at even, the Passover was celebrated... The Passover was followed by the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread. The first and the seventh day were days of holy convocation, when no servile work was to be performed. On the second day of the feast, (day 16) the day of the Resurrection, the first fruits of the year’s harvest were presented before God... Fifty days from the offering of first fruits, came the Pentecost...” PP 539 540 (parentheses inserted)

One can see that the Wave Sheaf (first fruits) is celebrated on the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Pentecost comes fifty days later.

The Feast of Trumpets is on the first day of the seventh month (seven new moons after the vernal equinox). The Day of Atonement is on the tenth day of the seventh month. The Feast of Tabernacles begins on the 15th day of the seventh month and lasts for seven days. An eighth day was added on as a Sabbath at the end of the feast.

Seven Sabbaths in addition to the weekly Sabbaths were enjoyed each year: The first and last day of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and the first and eighth day of Tabernacles.

Does it make any difference on which day we keep the Sabbath? Yes, it does. Does it matter on which day we show up for any appointment with the Creator God? Of course! Do we need to be watching for final events? Yes, and fortunately we have been told that some of the more important final events will happen on the very appointed times we have been studying.

Many of us believe in the importance of the Sabbath to the remnant church, and we reverence that command that begins with the word “remember.” We also treasure the Elijah message as an important part of our heritage. It also begins with the same word:

“Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:4 6 (emphasis mine)

The statutes are filled with admonitions regarding divinely established guards for safe, proper, beautiful, and long-lasting family relations.

Ellen White and the Holy Scripture remove any question that the Elijah message will contain the statutes, and those who give the Elijah message will be translated. Notice her comment:

“That God who reads the hearts of everyone, will bring to light hidden things of darkness where they were often least suspected, that stumbling blocks which have hindered the progress of truth may be removed, and God have a clean and holy people to declare His statutes and judgments.
“The Captain of our salvation leads His people on step by step, purifying and fitting them for translation, and leaving in the rear those who are disposed to draw off from the body, who are not willing to be led...” 1T 333 (emphasis added)

There is no question that the 144,000 will not perish from a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). They will be alert to the times. That the specific times, in the Jewish economy, point to certain last day events is known (GC 399,400). Over and over the Bible instructs us to “watch” that we might not be caught unaware. The question is, when it comes to the times in the Jewish economy, who is watching? Who among us is taught enough about the times in the Jewish economy to know what to watch for? Surely the 144,000 will be watching the recorded times as well as knowing every commandment available as a safeguard from sin.

“The Lord Jesus gave these commandments from the pillar of cloud, and Moses repeated them to the children of Israel and wrote them in a book, that they might not depart from righteousness. We are under obligation to fulfill these specifications, for in so doing we fulfill the specifications of the law of God.” RH 12/18/1894

Paul’s use of authority was powerful in his letter to the Corinthian church. As a Pharisee, he knew the statutes very well and used them to instruct the church.

“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.” 1 Cor. 5:1

He was right in his judgment. The statute given by God to His church reads:

“Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife.” Deuteronomy 27:20

Later, in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, Paul says the homosexual, along with other non repentant sinners, will miss the kingdom of God. Today some students of Scripture are questioning his authority to pronounce such strong judgment. They argue no such authority for Paul, but claim he is speaking his own convictions in accordance with the prevailing culture of Judaism.

Actually, Paul opposed certain Jews when they went against the revealed Word of God, but he never pitted Christ against the Word of God. God’s Word recorded in the statutes was clear to the apostle. Notice His word:

“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.” Lev. 20:13

Since the Ten Commandments only mentions the sexual sin of adultery, and say nothing of homosexuality, it is falsely claimed by some that Paul was speaking his own opinion. They are wrong. Paul knew the Spirit of God to echo the same truth as God spoke in the above statute. Friends, the Spirit of God would not alter God’s commands.

The statutes express the Ten Commandments more fully so the child of God will be “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Mrs. White writes, “We are under obligation to fulfill these specifications; for in so doing we fulfill the specifications of the law of God.” God is right, Paul is right, and she is right.

The apostle James also acknowledged that the statutes written in the Mosaic law, in addition to the Ten Commandments, constitute the law of God. For example, after writing about a rich man dressed in goodly apparel and a poor man in vile raiment, he was able to condemn giving favor to the rich man by quoting from the statutes:

“But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law of transgressors.” James 2:9 (emphasis added)

This is a serious charge! To what law is he referring? He is referring to the law of statutes as recorded in Leviticus 19:15:

“Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge they neighbor.” Lev. 19:15

This is the law James says is a sin to transgress! This statute is repeated, as many of them are, in Deuteronomy 1:17:

“Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great...”

James, in the New Testament, clearly states that transgression of the above statute is sin. In James 2:8, the apostle also refers to another statute and recognizes it as a part of the “royal law.”

“If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.”

This law, which James quotes “according to the Scripture,” is found in Leviticus 19:18, which says:

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”

James says for one to fulfill the royal law the above statute must be obeyed. In Matthew 22:36-39 our Lord also referred to the same statute, and still another from Deuteronomy 6:5.

“Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Matthew 22:37

To transgress any of the above statutes is clearly out of harmony with New Testament teaching.

Continuing in James chapter 2, the apostle quotes two of the Ten Commandments regarding adultery and murder and concludes that all four of the following are a part of the great law of liberty:

1. Unfair respect to persons.
2. Love thy neighbor as thyself.
3. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
4. Thou shalt not kill.

Friends, would you be liberated from sin? The blood of Christ will free you from your sins, and the entire law will show you how to walk in liberty. Praise God! We can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength to do His will. He not only forgives your sins, but will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You can be among those who are seen keeping the law of God and having the testimony of Jesus.

The Fourth Angel
Or Is He The Seventh?

In Revelation 18:1, an angel “lightens the earth with his glory.” He is called the fourth angel because he will add to the message of the 3rd angel of Revelation 14:9. He is called the seventh angel because of the number of angels mentioned in the book of Revelation. Starting with the 3rd angel, and counting the angels mentioned from that point forward to the end of the Bible, he would be the seventh angel.

Ellen White tells us his message is the message rejected by the church of Laodicea. She also ties his message to the Holy Spirit power of God predicted to be prevalent during the “loud cry.”

In Revelation 18, the fourth angel is described as the angel which “lightens the earth with his glory.” In the book Maranatha, p. 219, Ellen White shows more clearly that it is this angel’s message that is being rejected.

“In the manifestation of that power which lightens the earth with the glory of God, they will see only something which, in their blindness, they think dangerous. Something that will arouse their fears, and they will brace themselves to resist it. Because the LORD does not work according to their expectations and ideals, they will oppose the word. ‘Why’ they say, ‘should we not know the Spirit of God, when we have been in the work so many years.’ Because they did not respond to the warnings, the entreaties, of the messages of God, but persistently said, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.’”

Obviously, the phrase “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” is the negative response of the Laodiceans in Revelation chapter three. The message they reject is the message of the fourth (seventh) angel “that lightens the earth with his glory” as stated at the beginning of her paragraph. The angel’s message is made clear by Sister White in 2MR 58; 1888 Materials p. 160, and in 3EGW Biography p. 389.

“Said my guide, ‘There is much light yet to shine forth from the law of God and the gospel of righteousness. The message, understood in its true character, and proclaimed in the Spirit, will lighten the earth with its glory.’” (italics mine)

Obviously, the fourth angel’s message contains, as she says, much more light regarding the law of God to shine forth.

Notice a striking statement taken from Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 10/13/1904 in an article entitled “The Closing Work.” Notice how she ties the statutes to the final outpouring of the Spirit of God upon us.

“The saving knowledge of God will accomplish its purifying work on the mind and heart of every believer. The Word declares: ‘Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.’ This is the descent of the Holy Spirit, sent from God to do its office work. The house of Israel is to be imbued with the Holy Spirit, and baptized with the grace of salvation.”

ARE THE FEASTS PART OF THE MORAL LAW
OR THE CEREMONIAL LAW?

This is a question that has been debated too long. I trust the following few paragraphs will continue to help clear up the question.

In the following quotes, Ellen White says that there are two laws: moral and ceremonial.

“There are two distinct laws brought to view. One is the law of types and shadows, which reached to the time of Christ, and ceased when type met antitype in His death. The other is the law of Jehovah, and is as abiding and changeless as His eternal throne. After the crucifixion, it was a denial of Christ for the Jews to continue to offer the burnt offerings and sacrifices, which were typical of His death. It was saying to the world that they looked for a Redeemer to come, and had no faith in Him who had given His life for the sins of the world. Hence the ceremonial law ceased to be of force at the death of Christ.” (Signs of the Times, July 29, 1886)

Notice that Ellen White says that to observe the ceremonial law after the death of Jesus is a denial of Him.

Ellen White furthermore states that Jesus never observed the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law consisted of slaying a lamb when someone sinned in order to obtain forgiveness for that sin. This law was instituted when Adam and Eve sinned and ended at the cross, because Jesus was the Lamb of God slain for our sins. Since Jesus never sinned, He did not need to partake of the ceremonial law. Here is Ellen White’s quote saying that Jesus never observed the ceremonial service:

“Christ passed through all the experiences of His childhood, youth, and manhood without the observance of ceremonial temple worship.” (BE, October 31, 1898)

However, Jesus did attend the feasts. John chapter 7 records His experience at the Feast of Tabernacles. Ellen White adds more information:

“Jesus traveled up and down the breadth of the land, giving His invitation to the feast. When the sun illuminated the landscape, Jesus said to the vast throng: ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ He took the opportunity of presenting Himself to the people during the feast-days, when they gathered at Jerusalem.” (Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, July 7, 1896)

The following quote shows that Jesus also observed Passover.

“Among the Jews the twelfth year was the dividing line between childhood and youth. On completing this year a Hebrew boy was called a son of the law, and also a son of God. He was given special opportunities for religious instruction, and was expected to participate in the sacred feasts and observances. It was in accordance with this custom that Jesus in His boyhood made the Passover visit to Jerusalem.” (Desire of Ages, p. 75)

Luke chapter 22:15-16 records Jesus observing Passover with His disciples and in these verses Jesus states that Passover is not fulfilled until we enjoy it with Him in the kingdom of heaven. Since Christ never observed the ceremonial law, but yet He did, and will, observe the feasts, and since there are two laws, moral and ceremonial, then with which law would Jesus include the feasts? The answer is obvious.

In the following quotes, Ellen White tells us that Paul also did not observe the ceremonial law after the cross and he never taught his converts to do so.

“Paul did not bind himself nor his converts to the ceremonies and customs of the Jews, with their varied forms, types, and sacrifices; for he recognized that the perfect and final offering had been made in the death of Son of God.” (LP 105)
“Factions also were beginning to rise through the influence of Judaizing teachers, who urged that the converts to Christianity should observe the ceremonial law in the matter of circumcision... They vindicated their position, which was in opposition to that of Paul.” (LP 121)

In commenting on the effects of Paul’s preaching, Ellen White also wrote:

“From every quarter were coming accounts of the spread of the new doctrine by which Jews were released from the observance of the rites of the ceremonial law and Gentiles were admitted to equal privileges with the Jews as children of Abraham.” (AP 390)

A little later, on the same page, she adds:

“His plan to reach Jerusalem in time for the Passover services had to be given up, but he hoped to be there at Pentecost.”

Still later, on the same page, she determined:

“At Philippi Paul tarried to keep the Passover.”

Obviously, Paul observed the feasts himself and also with his converts. The Scriptures agree:

“But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast in Jerusalem.” (Acts 18:21)

Ellen White comments on this text.

“After leaving Corinth, Paul’s next scene of labor was Ephesus. He was on his way to Jerusalem to attend an approaching festival, and his stay at Ephesus was necessarily brief.” (AA 269)

Paul did not make it to Jerusalem in time, so he kept this feast with his converts in Philippi.

“And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread.” (Acts 20:6)

“The Philippians were the most loving and truehearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them.” (AA 390-391)

“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

Since Ellen White tells us that Paul did not observe the ceremonial law and did not teach his converts to do so, but yet, he did observe the feasts with his converts, evidently Paul also thought the feasts were moral.

Our own SDA Commentary also tells us that John the Revelator and many other early Christians observed Passover after the cross. This quote is from the SDA Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 362, and is quoting from an early Christian’s letter, written about 150 A.D.

[p. 505] Therefore we keep the day undeviatingly, neither adding nor taking away, for in Asia [Minor] great luminaries sleep, and they will rise on the day of the coming of the Lord, when he shall come with glory from heaven and seek out all the saints. Such were Phillip...and two of his daughters...
[p. 507] There is also John who lay on the Lord’s breast...And there is also Polycarp at Smyrna, both bishop and martyr, and Thraseas, both bishop and martyr, from Eumenaea... [Also] Sagaris... Papirius... and Melito... all of these kept the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, never swerving, but following according to the rule of the faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, live according to the tradition of my kinsmen, and some of them have I followed. For seven of my family were bishops and I am the eighth, and my kinsmen ever kept the day when the people put away the leaven. Therefore, brethren, I who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord and conversed with brethren from every country, and have studied all holy Scripture am not afraid of threats, for they have said who were greater than I, ‘It is better to obey God rather than men.’”

“After the crucifixion, it was a denial of Christ for the Jews to continue to offer the burnt offerings and sacrifices which were typical of His death. It was saying to the world that they looked for a Redeemer to come, and had no faith in Him who had given his life for the sins of the world. Hence the ceremonial law ceased to be of force at the death of Christ.” (Signs of the Times, July 29, 1886)

Since it was a denial of our Saviour to observe the ceremonial law after the cross, if the feasts are part of the ceremonial law, then Paul, John the Revelator, and many other Christians denied Christ. Paul and John the Revelator wrote the majority of the NT. Do you think the Holy Spirit would use someone who id denying Christ to write a major portion of the NT? I think not!

“Anciently the Lord instructed His people to assemble three times a year for His worship. To these holy convocations the children of Israel came, bringing to the house of God their tithes, their sin offerings, and their offerings of gratitude. They met to recount God’s mercies, to make known His wonderful works, and to offer praise and thanksgiving to His name. And they were to unite in the sacrificial service, which pointed to Christ as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Thus they were to be preserved from the corrupting power of worldliness and idolatry. Faith and love and gratitude were to be kept alive in their hearts, and through their association together in this sacred service they were to be bound closer to God and to one another...if the children of Israel needed the benefit of these holy convocations in their time, how much more do we need them in these last days of peril and conflict! And if the people of the world then needed the light which God had committed to His church, how much more do they need it now!” (Testimonies, Vol. 6, 39-40) [Emphasis added]

It seems that Ellen White is recommending that we observe the feasts. So, are the feasts part of the moral law or the ceremonial law? The answer is obvious. The feasts are part of the moral law. This would, of necessity, include the Seventh-day Sabbath.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, and holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.” (Lev. 23:2,3)

Yes, the seventh day Sabbath is one of His feasts, and it is; therefore, also under the moral law. Since they are all a part of the moral law this means that the feasts will be observed forever. And, indeed, the Bible does confirm that we will be observing the feasts in eternity.

“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” (Zechariah 14:16)

Read this whole chapter to see that the context of this chapter is in the new earth. Zechariah 14:4 states that Jesus will come down to Mount Olives which will split in half, preparing the way for the New Jerusalem to descend, and then the Lord shall be King over all the earth. See verse 9. Jesus is not King over all this earth until all sin and sinners have been vanquished off this earth forever. We will be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles forever in eternity; just as Leviticus chapter 23 tells us to. In that chapter, God says four times that we are to keep His feasts days forever.

Dear friend, since we will be observing the feasts forever in heaven, and since they are part of the moral law, we invite you to quietly join hundreds of other sincere folk in their observance. Truly, everyone enjoys the benefits of a spiritual feast.

In 2RH 270, Col. 1, several even more interesting statements are given:

“The controversy begun in heaven over the law of God has been kept up upon the earth ever since Satan’s expulsion from heaven.”

Friends, we must be in our moral loyalty to Him no matter how furious the controversy rages. She also added:

“The great statute-book is truth, and truth only; for it delineates with unerring accuracy the history of Satan’s deception and the ruin of his followers.”

The Ten Commandments say nothing of Satan, but the statutes do. For example, Satan’s deception of exaggeration led to Israel’s fear of “giants” and cities walled “up to the heaven.” That led to the ultimate loss of an entire generation of Israelites, except for Joshua and Caleb. The “great statute-book” that contains such stories is her reference. Her reference continues:

“Satan claimed to be able to present laws which were better than God’s statutes and judgments, and he was expelled from heaven.”

Clearly, she is writing about much more than the Ten Commandments. She is showing a larger test of loyalty. The same message is in the Elijah message. The Elijah message actually refutes the above Satanic activities. The Elijah message uplifts the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments.

Question: Shall we follow in the footsteps of Elijah? …or, will we follow in the footsteps of the great deceiver?

In conclusion, this author believes there is no reason for this study to cause the least bit of antagonism form a reader. Only in the unlikely event that someone takes offense, is the following statement included.

“Nothing frightens me more than to see the spirit of variance manifested by our brethren. We are on dangerous ground when we cannot meet together like Christians, and courteously examine controverted points. I feel like fleeing from the place lest I receive the mold of those who cannot candidly investigate the doctrines of the Bible. Those who cannot impartially examine the evidences of a position that differs from theirs, are not fit to teach in any department of God’s cause. ARSH 2/18/90; 1SM 411; 1888 Materials 534

My desire is that we all remain fit to teach.

There is indeed much more light on this subject than is contained in this small book. Since its first edition printed in 1998 many books, pamphlets, VHS and DVD studies by various preachers and authors on this subject have multiplied. We suggest you take advantage of the study materials noted after the Appendix.

[table of contents] [appendix]